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Nicholas Freestone at Temple Church and Umberto Jacopo Laureti at Steinway Hall……two great artists today for the Keyboard Charitable Trust

Two great concerts for the Keyboard Charitable Trust on the same day but in very different venues.

The first on the magnificent organ in the Temple Church by Nicholas Freestone and the second in Steinway Hall with Umberto Jacopo Laureti.

I never thought I would use the word charming for an organist but here it was today in a little piece by John Ireland :Villanella from the Miniature Suite.

There was all the cheeky charm that one usually associates with the great romantic pianists of the past.

The reason being of course that here at the organ today was a real thinking musician totally in command of the instrument and able to find and use to the advantage of the music all the vast range of colours that this organ could provide.

From the great March on a theme of Handel by Alexandre Guilamt in which the nobility and grandure immediately announced the credentials of this young Organ Scholar at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Nicholas Freestone graduate of Oxford holding an Organ Scholarship at Worcester College where he was resonsible for the running of the chapel music .He later went on to be Organ Scholar at St Albans Cathedral training and accompanying the choirs as well as being their principal organist .

At his young age he is a complete musician a Kappellmeister in the great tradition of the past and lent to the music an authority and sense of style and direction that was quite absorbing from the first to the last note.

Herbert Howells Master Tallis’s Testament almost whispered after the tumultuous sounds at the end of the Handel March by Guilmant.

Frank Bridge Adagio in E where his subtle use of the stops gave such a great sense of colour but never forsaking the sense of line .

The great Carillon de Westminster by Louis Vierne that concluded this all too short recital were allowed to ring out around this ancient church of the Knights Templar in the heart of London

It was nice to see John Leech the founding father of the KCT present in these august surroundings and missing only Sir Geoffrey Nice his lifelong friend and instigator of this new branch of activity for the Trust . As one of his illustrious colleagues pointed out without doubt taken up with the events of the day in his very busy schedule

The second appointment of this busy day for the KCT was with Umberto Jacopo Laureti an equally remarkable musician from the school of Benedetto Lupo in Rome and Ian Fountain in London.

Noretta Conci-Leech the founder of the KCT sharing this day with her husband .

I had heard him play in a concert by the students of Benedetto Lupo’s class at the Accademia di S.Cecilia in Rome.

All the Scriabin sonatas played by some of the very talented young musicians that flock to study with him in Rome.

A remarkable array of talent that included Beatrice Rana,Oxana Shevshenko, Ben Cruchley and Umberto Jacopo Laureti.

So it was very interesting to be able to hear a complete programme today that ranged from Schubert to Busoni. Now studying for a PhD with a research programme on Busoni it was hardly surprising to find an important work of Busoni as a finale to a recital that had shown off the intelligent musicianship that had been apparent from the very first opening chords of Schubert’s great C minor Sonata D.985.

From the very first notes there was an energy and inner propulsion that he maintained for the next thirty minutes .

From the great Beethovenian opening played with great passion dissolving into the beautiful second subject played with just the right flexibility that allowed Schubert`s sublime melodic invention to cast it`s spell.

The same spell that was to be cast in the Adagio with just the perfect mix of shape and character that allowed the sublime invention in Schubert`s last year to speak so naturally .

The Minuetto perfectly judged to contrast with the tarantella like Allegro.

Schubert spinning his magic in this young man`s hands .

The magical melodic interruptions never halting the infectious forward movement.

I wonder why Umberto chose to play the opening bass of the Chopin Barcarolle with two hands?

A poetic reading where the melodic invention was played with a beauty of tone that was never allowed to become percussive.

Always expressive this great long song was allowed the space and time to breathe so naturally.

The arrival in paradise (in Perlemuters own words) was played with an exquisite completely natural cantabile.

The final page,so much admired by Ravel, played in such a fluid manner and the last chords played without emphasis as the end of this great melodic outpouring of the already gravely ill Chopin on his ill fated soggiorn with Georges Sand on Majorca.

A contemporary piece of a friend “Song for him” was just the right contrast for the Busoni Toccata.

A piece I well remember Serkin playing in London together with the Reger variations and op.111.

It is nice to see being rediscovered by this fine young musician delving into the output of Busoni.A real reincarnation of Franz Liszt in his anticipation of the direction that music might take.

Some remarkable sounds and use of pedal effects in the De Angelis “Song for him” as was the sparseness of pedal in the Busoni .

A true musician ,the second in the same day that only goes to confirm the very roots on which the KCT was born.

A little piece of childrens slumbers from Schumann`s Kinderscenen was just the ideal encore at the end of a long day dedicated to real music making.

Wonderful to see Terry`s dream come true.

Thanks to Peter Tate`s determined dedication to present Terry`s Picasso that she had dedicated her last days to.

So much of Terry inside and out in this new space in the shadow of Grenfell Tower.

Even the beautiful lamps in the foyer from Terrys home in Lugano.

A very warm atmosphere that only Terry could have created as anyone would know who visited her studio in the centre of Rome.

Wonderful lighting too on stage to illuminate Terry`s Picasso in the magisterial performance of Peter Tate

Five star review from Michael Billington in the Guardian has sealed the fate on this very movingly heartfelt production.

Peter Hats off to Peter and his wife for their dedication to the cause of Picasso.

A great celebration of that extraordinary woman who will long remain in our hearts and as Peter pointed out under our skin.

Liszt Society Annual Day

A whole day dedicated to Liszt and as Leslie Howard,President of the Liszt Society, said where else could you have heard on the same day or on any day come to that : Faribolo,Chanson tiree du Poeme de Franconnetto de Jasmin,the Fourth Mephisto Waltz or the Heroischer Marsch in ungarischen Stil.

Enoch Arden in Rome still weaves its magic ……..

An entire evening dedicated to Enoch Arden on the occasion of the presentation of a series of paintings by Paolo Giorgi inspired by that great poem of Alfred Lord Tennyson.

A poem that in 1864 sold 70000 copies in only four months and inspired Richard Strauss to compose perhaps the greatest of all Melologos in 1897.

With the voice of Tommaso Ragno and the piano of Stefano Greco we were treated to a performance in the free italian translation of that great man of culture Prof Bruno Cagli.

A standing ovation from one President to another for the rare presence these days of Bruno Cagli,President of Santa Cecilia for 22 years bringing it to world attention taking it into its magnificent new halls designed by Renzo Piano with a historic Orchestra re born under Sir Antonio Pappano.

Michele dall’Ongaro will have his work cut out to follow in such illustrious footsteps.

But as ex director of the Italian Television’s prime culture channel: Rai 5 and a notable composer in his own right he has all the cards possible to bring the greatest performances to a discerning public.

And tonight as Master of Ceremonies he was able to introduce us in his inimitable way to the world of the Melologo.

Passing the microphone to Prof Cesare Scarton,author of the only Italian book on this genre of music theatre.

He was given just ten minutes to give a brief history of this now almost obsolete form of dramatic declamation.

A brilliant and fortunately with the Presidents stop watch ticking away,brief,resume’ of which from Rousseau in 1712 to Schonberg in 1951 has included such composers as Mozart,Schubert,Schumann,Liszt,Wagner,Grieg and of course Richard Strauss.

So seemingly all the cards in order for an enjoyably instructive evening amongst friends.

It is at this point that I was reminded of the story that Paul Tortelier loved to recount about Georges Enescu.

Enescu had asked some friends to listen to one of his violin students in concert and this is what they recounted:

The man playing the piano ,Enescu (renowned mentor of Yehudi Menuhin) should have been playing the violin .

The page turner Alfred Cortot should have been playing the piano

and the prize student should have considered himself lucky to turn pages.

In Torteliers inimitable way of story telling it was unforgettable.

It passed through my mind tonight as we had some beautiful modern paintings that depicted a mermaid type waif in front of a sinking Concordia and seemingly nothing to do with the world of Tennyson’s Enoch;

A magnificent reciter hidden behind two music stands with a radio microphone attached to him which made it rather difficult to declame dramatically as was intended ;

a truly remarkable pianist in front of a magnificent Fabrini Steinway with its voice muted by it being almost totally closed.

An unfair match indeed was to be played out.

But then the magic of Enoch Arden mysteriously filled this rather austerely modern Spazio Risonanze and all the seeming incongruities were forgotten and forgiven in a performance that held the audience riveted from the first waves on the piano to the death of Enoch forty minutes later.

We even looked at those pictures with the eyes of a painter who had been so inspired by this recount that he had overheard one day on the radio

Alessandro Taverna at the Filarmonica Romana for their Beethovenklavier series

I have only been able to attend two of these memorable concerts that Matteo D’Amico ,the Artistic Director of the Filarmonica Romana,has dedicated to the Pinnacle of the piano repertoire:The 32 Sonatas of Beethoven.

Giving the stage to some of the most remarkable pianists of their generation and all Italian too.

Not content with this, as a notable composer in his own right ,he has included a piano work by contemporary Italian composers in each programme.

All these concerts recorded for the RAI for future broadcast including a brief but sometimes illuminating talk by the composers themselves.

The recitals  are under the eagle eye of Andrea Lucchesini ,the director of the famous Academy in Fiesole,and a very distinguished pianist in his own right.

I well remember Cherkassky when I took him to play in Empoli,Busoni’s birthplace,being invited to Luciano Berio’s house nearby to hear his protege Andrea Lucchesini play.

Cherkassky was very impressed and that young boy has since gone on to have a very distinguished career never forgetting in turn to help his younger colleagues.

Much in the same vein as his teacher Maria Tipo.

There is certainly something in the hills around Florence that is conducive to great pianists.

All the concerts in the Sala Casella ,part of the beautiful Villa which is the seat of the Filarmonica .

Is it just a coincidence that the Casella edition of the Beethoven Sonatas was for many years the bible for young pianists ?

The bust of his hands was recently bequeathed to the Filarmonica by that great,much missed Italian pianist Lya De Barberiis also champion of so many Italian contemporary composers.

Her memorable lecture recital in this very hall for her 90th birthday a few years ago has become a benchmark for all those interested in the Italian composers of that period.

My previous visit was to hear that great stylist Leonora Armellini and today it was the turn of Alessandro Taverna fast being recognised as one of the finest interpreters of his day especially of contemporary music.

Interesting to note that both have been chosen to perform for the Keyboard Charitable Trust of London founded by a disciple of Benedetti Michelangeli,Noretta Conci-Leech.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.wordpress.com/…/….

Hats of to the composer Matteo D’Amico because for me the highlight of the recital today was the contemporary piece by the composer Michele dall’Ongaro.

President in his own right of the Accademia di S.Cecilia and director of RAI 5 the cultural station like BBC 4 in the UK .

His only piece for solo piano written in 1989 as he very amusingly decribed the five “brief” scenes that make up his “Autodafe'”.

Explaining that everything of any importance has already been done by Beethoven and so anything that composers  could offer today had in some way already been contemplated by Beethoven.

But he said the greatest joy for a composer was to be alone in a darkened room with a pencil and manuscript paper to turn his fantasy into sound.

He certainly did that in these varied pieces describing the jouney to the scaffold!

Amazing sounds from the piano played with such conviction by Alessandro Taverna.

He did not break a string in the final piece as the composer had recommended but as a true master of the piano played with the same vehemence that was required.

In fact it was even more remarkable for the contrast that he found .

The floating sounds of the fourth piece “rassegnato” and the contrasts in the first piece “riluttante” all played with an enviable clarity and precision but with a fantasy that made  the composers own images so immediately apparent.

The three Sonatas op 27 n.1 “quasi una fantasia “;op 53 “Waldstein”;op 110.

All three sonatas played with the rigour for which this young man is renowned and duly feted by Lorin Maazel ,who on hearing him at his festival in Castleton,USA for the KCT,immediatley engaged him to play together with his Munchner Philharmoniker.

A Beethoven in which the great contrasts that are so much part of Beethoven’s character were immediately apparent.

The virtuoso demands in the Waldstein were played with a mastery that did not deny either the struggle that is within and is the very essence of this sonata.

The short slow movement (Andante Favori that was the original mouvement was published separately ) was a beautiful introduction to Rondo’-Allegretto moderato where the bell like melody entered so gently on a cloud of sound before the very energetic eruptions. The first movement played at just the right tempo that allowed the second subject to make such a telling contrast, without a change of tempo ,with the rhythmic rumble with which the movement begins.

Infact it was this sense of line that was so apparent in the penultimate Sonata op 110.

This seemingly Pastoral Sonata that is sometimes so difficult to perceive as a whole was here given an exemplary reading.

Eventually some of the magical sounds that had sparked his fantasy in the contemporary piece he will add to his notable intellectual musicianship that gave such a sense of architectural line to this masterpiece where Beethovens rage was turning into something so much simpler and profound as in the works that follow op.111,126 and the great Diabelli op120.

The companion sonata to the more famous “Moonlight” was played with all the simplicity and rhythmic energy that brought this once much neglected sonata to life.

Hats off to the Filarmonica and Matteo D’Amico for promoting Beethoven, the finest young Italian musicians as well as contemporary Italian composers .

Matteo D’Amico who wrote the score many years ago for me to play in Orazio Costa’s famous edition of Pirandello “Cosi e’ se vi pare” with my wife the renowned actress and impresario Ileana Ghione.

Jayson Gillham at Conway Hall.

The Bloomsbury Festival Romantic Bach from the intimate to epic on the modern piano………………Sunny Jason outshone them all tonight

Very interesting for a Londoner like me to discover a new venue for classical music. Conway Hall like Regent Hall has always for me had the sound of the Salvation Army and not a concert hall.

I remember Madame Tillett determined to have a hall in the centre of London and not accept the rather cold Queen Elisabeth Hall on the Southbank .

She opened a new hall in Regents street ,paid to have it refurbished and opened with a season of all of her roster of stars from Segovia and Szeryng to a complete Beethoven Series with Badura Skoda.

Coffee served in real china cups but nothing could make the hall feel like a real concert hall. It may have well been the carpets and plush seats.

This is certainly not the case of Conway Hall as I discovered at Jayson Gillham’s recital for the Bloomsbury Festival.

An Art Deco type building in the corner of Red Lion Square in Holborn.

It has a very well worn feeling inside that fits like a friendly glove .

Wood everywhere gives a very warm feeling in particular to the sound from their fine Boesendorfer piano .

The hall was infact purpose built for concerts in 1929 when the South Place Ethical Society acquired the concert series from the People’s Concert Society of 1878.

Four hundred comfortable but certainly not plush seats,no carpets in sight to hinder the near perfect acoustic of this wooden interior.

Just the right amount of resonance to allow the Majestic Boesendorfer to ring out maybe even a little too overpowering at times.

Jayson Gillham is fast becoming an important part of those magnificent Australian musicians that live and work in and around London as well as in their native Australia. Piers Lane and Leslie Howard are both renowned for their enormous musical appetite and their intellectual and musicianly mastery of the piano.

Having graduated from the RAM in London under that renowned pedagogue Christopher Elton. Jayson Gillham has gone on to take first prize in 2014 at the Montreal International Music Competition.

Since then he has played with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors.

A real thinking musician in the mold of his illustrious colleagues it was his informal introductions that were so stimulating and informative in this well thought out recital under the title of :”Romantic Bach from initmate to epic on the modern piano”.

As he stated in the introduction :Bach was the undisputed master of Counterpoint- the art of setting independent musical lines against each other and interweaving them to create harmony (just the harmonic inevitability that Murray Perahia so eloquently demonstrated in his Masterclass at Milton Court last week)

The complexity with which Bach could compose in this manner is to this day unmatched,and the resulting beauty and depth of emotion of Bach’s music is immense. “From the intimate to the epic” was all in a day’s work for Bach,who dedicated his life’s work to God.

The Toccatas in G major and C minor opening the first and second half of original and trascriptions of J.S. Bach.

Full blooded performances never afraid of the pianos sonorities but always contained within an architectural framework which is the very substance of Bach’s genius.

Some beautiful contrasts made one almost think that these are just as powerful as some of the overblown transcriptions of Busoni.

The C minor Toccata in particular played with crystalline clarity and an energy that swept us along to the very last note.

The same rigour that he brought to the Chaconne from the violin Partita n.2 in Dminor in perhaps the greatest of all transcriptions of Bach that of Busoni.

Of course a use of the piano and of great virtuosity but never sacrificing this masterpiece written as part of a series of dances .

As Jayson so clearly stated a masterwork as long as all the other movements of the Partita put together.

Played with an unusual and very original ,refreshing and unrhetorical look at the score. A much maligned work in the piano repertoire here Jayson restored it to the masterwork that it most clearly is.

On a par with that of Bach?He almost convinced me!

Bach’s original Prelude and Fugues in C sharp minor Bk.2 and B flat minor Bk 1 so much more powerful than the rather overblown transcription by Rachmaninov of the Suite in E major.

So many extra notes it really became a suite by Rachmaninov with references to Bach! Beautifully played,the Gavotte had a charm and lilt and just the right amount of virtuosity in the Gigue was quite overwhelming in Jayson’s hands.

It was interesting to hear the Prelude in E minor by Rachmaninov’s teacher Alexander Siloti . Not quite the magical B minor that is most often played and there is also the doubt that this too was not an original work of Bach at all!

I was thinking how strange that an Australian pianist should play Egon Petri’s transcription of ” Sheep may safely Graze” .Even though beautifully shaped it did not have the same magic as Percy Grainger’s transcription that Jayson surprised us with as an encore.

Indeed as he pointed out Grainger not content with Bach’s title gave his ramble on “Sheep may safely graze” the title of Blithe Bells. Played as to the manner born . The colours and sounds that now lit up the piano showed us all the magic and fantasy that had up until now been hidden in Jayson’s intellectual and masterly performances.

It was as though he could let his hair down as Grainger obviously was doing and enter a fantasy world of sound that even Bach could not have imagined possible.

Julian Jacobson at St John`s Smith Square

The first of four concerts to celebrate Julian Jacobson’s 70th Birthday year.

Concerts that include the three “war” sonatas of Prokofiev and some of the major works from the piano repertoire.

I was much reminded of that remarkable musician Frederick Jackson .

“Freddie” as he was affectionately known could sit down and play the Goldberg or Diabelli Variations as he could conduct the Verdi Requiem.

I first met Julian thirty years ago when he came to Rome to perform in a contemporary music festival in my theatre in collaboration with the American Academy in Rome.

There was talk of him coming to give a recital with Ida Handel and Zara Nelsova but it was not to be and so I met him again only last year when he was taking over the chairmanship of the Beethoven Society from the retiring Dr Malcom Troup .

I together with Piers Lane and Noretta Conci-Leech were invited to judge their annual Beethoven Competition which was won by Mihai Ritivoiu with a remarkable performance of the “Appassionata” as you would expect from a prize student of Joan Havill.

And so I was very keen to hear Julian again especially as I had heard about his cycle of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas played in the same day in aid of charity WaterAid.

I also knew of his many other activities at the RCM and for the Beethoven Society.

A real musician as you would expect from a young boy at the age of seven studying piano and composition with the Lamar Crowson and Arthur Benjamin.

A graduate of Queen’s College Oxford and student later of Louis Kentner .

I was intrigued to see a CD on sale of the works of Maurice Jacobson who on reading the cover learn was Julian’s father.

A very distinguished musician in his own right, a child prodigy who could play the “48” and “32” from memory at the age of 16!

A fine accompanist he was to discover Kathleen Ferrier and went on to found the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain with Dame Ruth Railton.

Director and chairman of the publisher J.Curwen and Sons with an impressive 450 works to his name.

He was also founder , I was told, of The Chopin Society UK.

He was awarded an OBE in 1971 and died in 1976 at the age of 80.

On the same table a CD of the complete piano works of Balakirev and some of Julians compositions which include The Orang-U-Tango written for the Martha Argerich Festival .

Only three great works on his first programme as you would expect with such a pedigree:

Beethoven “Eroica” variations op 35 , Schubert’s first set of Four Impromptus D 899 Prokofiev 6th Sonata in A 82.

Never a harsh sound from this musician who was listening intently to the great line of these masterworks that he was sharing with us.

The great Beethovenian interruptions in the Eroica Variations played with all the vehemence that made the contrast with the simple theme so telling.

If there were some blurred edges it did not in anyway detract from the overall picture that was so much part of this musician’s vision and wish to guide us through.

Beautiful almost whispered sound after the Beethovenian opening of Schubert’s first Impromptu .

The similarity between the opening of the Beethoven was even more striking for its direct unfussy approach to the composers intentions.

Many beautiful things in the following impromptus especially the 3rd Impromptu where the melody was allowed to sing out in such a natural unmannered way.

The jeu perle in the second and fourth Impromptu played with an enviable precision and it was good to notice this pianist’s “paws” the same ones I used to admire so much in “Freddie” who I mentioned above.

A pianist’s hand that seems to always be drawn to the keyboard without any fuss or affectation in many ways an organist’s hand too and allow us to follow unimpeded the composers intentions.

Enormous contrasts in the Prokofiev as though Julian was trying to show us the reasoning behind this first sonata of his “war” trilogy.

Here a slightly clearer articulation would have given even more rhythmic impetus to this astonishing sonata.

The long slow movement seemed so logical in it’s projection of the long melodic line.

If the last movement could have been even more steely fingered it was played in a fearless way that brought the concert to tumultuous finish

.

A rarely heard Scriabin Prelude in B minor played with all the colour and calm but always with the same sense of line and direction that had been so much the hallmark of a real musicians recital.

The next recital on the 26th November in which another three blocks from the piano repertoire Schubert D850,Beethoven op 27 n.2 and Prokofievs 7th Sonata.

A remarkable tour de force indeed for someone who is so much involved in every aspect of musical life ……..

It is evidently a family trait!